20th ANNIVERSARY KICKS OFF WITH KNOW & TELL, NEW MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Six Shooter Records embraces its 20th anniversary, two decades of guts and grit, vision and action, as an opportunity to celebrate the past and contribute to the future. With a full slate of programming, events and news rolling out in the coming months, the 20th anniversary events reflect a label that has followed its heart, embraced challenges and propelled change to become a leader in the independent music scene.

KNOW & TELL MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

For its first act of this milestone year, Six Shooter announces a new mentorship program, Know & Tell, where the label opens its doors to emerging artists and industry looking to connect. Free of charge and welcoming to all, Know & Tell is an opportunity for ideas and expertise to flow.

With Know & Tell, Six Shooter will offer 45-minutes appointments available either in person or via video conference. To make an appointment, applicants are invited to fill out an online form to be matched with a resident expert from the label’s 17-person team.

The mandate for this program is intended for general advice, useful consultation, and encouragement.

Sign up here.

ANNIVERSARY LOGO AND NEW SLOGAN

Six Shooter has unveiled a special 20th anniversary logo, designed by the label’s Artist in Residence Lyle Bell (The Wet Secrets). The original girl on a horse logo, which will return in 2021, was created by Ty Semaka (Plaid Tongued Devils).

The label’s first motto, “Life is Too Short to Listen to Shitty Music,” which has graced the back of thousands of t-shirts spotted around the world, is also now officially retired. The new motto, “I Can Live Forever,” is a reflection of Six Shooter’s belief in the transformative power of art. The motto comes from the song “I Can Swing A Hammer,” a dance rock pep talk by The Wet Secrets. Check Six Shooter’s social media accounts (#SixShooter2020 and #ICanLiveForever) for in-depth stories and historical notes for every album in its genre-spanning catalogue throughout the year.

2020 JUNO NOMINEES

The label congratulates all of its 2020 JUNO nominees, including Tanya Tagaq, who is nominated for Toothsayer, an experimental arctic soundscape, The Dead South for their Billboard chart-topping bluegrass album Sugar & Joy and Whitehorse for The Northern South Vol. 2 (the duo’s fifth consecutive JUNO nomination in 4 different categories).

This year’s nominees also include first time nominee Riit for ataataga, an electro pop album in Inuktitut, and the creative team behind the Ensign Broderick’s epic and artful BloodCrush/BloodMyth album package (Kris Knight, Jason Sniderman, Chris Peters, James Mejia, Stefanie Schneider).

HENRY WAGONS’ DEBUT SOLO ALBUM TURNS SEVEN

Henry Wagons had been traveling for nearly a day by the time he folded up his tray table over London, UK and made his way to a haunted house to meet his first guest vocalist. Two days before boarding his flight in hometown Melbourne, AUS, Henry called his manager to share the good news: he’d just convinced The Kills/Dead Weather’s lead vocalist Alison Mosshart to record a duet with him for his first solo album, ‘Expecting Company?’ And he’d have one weekend to pull it off, one handed.

“For most of the recording, my left hand was all slashed up,” Henry Wagons tells us by email, sent from another airport. A light bulb had blown up in his hand as he was changing it. Even with only one hand, Henry was able to write and record all the musical arrangements of the songs by himself at home. After a very solitary stretch, and “to soften the blow of putting out my first ever solo album I needed some friends around me.”

“I’ve always been a fan of big, overblown country duets…Lee and Nancy, Kenny and Dolly…and I was in the mood to write something along those lines, in my own way,” Henry reflects. “I picked a bunch of my friends I’d always wanted to sing with, and…I spent the money I was given to make the record to fly around to the homes of people I wanted to collaborate with and record the vocals in their space. I recorded a vocal take with Alison Mosshart in the very haunted house the song (“Unwelcome Company”) was written about in East London. I got to hang with Robert Forest (Go-Betweens) in his treehouse-like office in his backyard in Brisbane (for “”I Still Can’t Find Her”).” Henry also recorded with then-labelmate Jenn Grant, “…still the velvetiest voice I have ever worked with!” plus The Grates’ Patience Hodgson and musician Sophia Brous.

The first notes roll in like the a Death Valley sunset and could soundtrack the opening titles of a long lost Midnight Western. The gauzy guitars, timpani booms and eerily theatrical violins create a visual sonicscape helmed by Wagons’ trembling, emotive baritone, a timeless, sturdy base for the his vocal partners.

It’s hard to believe we released this cinematic record seven years ago TODAY.  Happy Albumnaversary! You know what they say, “Time flies like a musician mid-air.”

If you’re riding solo or going with friends, get into the exceptional, Expecting Company? right here.

RIYL: Orville Peck, The Dead South, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and Colter Wall

“A pinpoint moment of letting go. The revelation.”

In the lead up to William Prince’s upcoming second album, Reliever, “Always Have What We Had” is a song about moving on from the past and moving forward.

“If you’re in a place where you’re struggling to let go of something causing you pain, this song is for you. This song allowed me my greatest peace and lead me to the greatest love I’ve ever known,” Prince wrote in an Instagram post January 6, 2020.

You can watch a special live performance of the song, filmed in Nashville in 2019 with a full band, by clicking the image below: 

Download and stream the song right here.

Reliever arrives February 7, 2020.

SUGAR & JOY LANDS AT #7 ON BILLBOARD’S BLUEGRASS YEAR END CHART

“Ragged and righteous Canadian bluegrass.” – NPR Music

The Dead South share the first new live single from their Nashville’s OurVinyl TV session. “Black Lung,” a song from new album Sugar & Joy that puts grit and stomp on a story about workers exploitation – ostensibly about coal mining, but certainly more universally applicable – features multiple lead vocalists and a sinister, nowhere-to-run undercurrent. In OurVinyl’s treatment, the song is set in a rubbled corner of Nashville’s mostly flashy Germantown, with the focus solely on the performance. OurVinyl made their name with highly watchable live sessions that have included Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, St. Paul and The Broken Bones and more.

Sugar & Joy, The Dead South’s third album, was released in October and praised across the board as their most accomplished work yet. Produced by Jimmy Nutt, the album showcased their imaginative approach to progressive bluegrass. Sugar & Joy recently landed at #7 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Year End Chart (the only Canadian band in the mix), an admirable achievement for a band that has traveled a circuitous path from Regina, Saskatchewan, to Germany where they signed their first record deal, back to North America, where they now call Toronto indie label Six Shooter Records home.

Recently nominated for AmericanaUK’s International Artist of the Year, The Dead South have fully embraced their situation of being outsiders in the traditional folk world, where they hang their musical hats, and in their own country, where they don’t hang their hats that often, as they are constantly touring. As noted in a review of their pre-Thanksgiving show at LA’s Belasco Theatre, The Dead South’s approach is “carving out its own lane that lends new life to the genre precisely by remaining comfortably adjacent to it.”

The Dead South’s SERVED COLD TOUR, which will see sold out shows in more than 20 countries, picks up again in the USA in January. Mark The Dead South’s upcoming Paste Studio Live on January 9, 2020 here.

Created by music fans and for music fans, Interstellar Rodeo was a one-of-a-kind festival built from scratch in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Festival founders, Six Shooter Records owners and artist managers Shauna de Cartier and Helen Britton, dreamed big and drilled down into the tiniest details to design an experience worthy of both artists and audiences. The mission: to offer a premium, relaxed, respectful and fun experience from start to finish. Also, the wine needed to be good.From 2012-2019, Interstellar Rodeo presented a dizzying range of sound and stories, all united under the sails by a common thread of artistic excellence. From Beck to Rhiannon Giddens, Wilco to Whitehorse, Tanya Tagaq to St. Vincent to Sharon Van Etten to Sheila E., Interstellar Rodeo’s commitment to showcasing musical greatness in all its many forms created an experience that immediately struck a chord with fans, particularly for the festival’s element of discovery. Interstellar Rodeo brought dozens of artists to both locales for the first time, a selling point for adventurous and appreciative music lovers. Interstellar was proud to present artists such as Alabama Shakes, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Margo Price, Courtney Barnett, Father John Misty, Adia Victoria, and Perfume Genius for their Edmonton or Winnipeg debuts.

From 2012-2019, Interstellar Rodeo presented a dizzying range of sound and stories, all united under the sails by a common thread of artistic excellence. From Beck to Rhiannon Giddens, Wilco to Whitehorse, Tanya Tagaq to St. Vincent to Sharon Van Etten to Sheila E., Interstellar Rodeo’s commitment to showcasing musical greatness in all its many forms created an experience that immediately struck a chord with fans, particularly for the festival’s element of discovery. Interstellar Rodeo brought dozens of artists to both locales for the first time, a selling point for adventurous and appreciative music lovers. Interstellar was proud to present artists such as Alabama Shakes, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Margo Price, Courtney Barnett, Father John Misty, Adia Victoria, and Perfume Genius for their Edmonton or Winnipeg debuts.

From the first edition in 2012, Interstellar Rodeo’s lineup was built on parity and representative of many voices and communities. Interstellar became a model of art-forward, inclusive programming. With the introduction of side stages to showcase community dance groups and spoken word artists to a strong contingent of artists from northern territories including Yukon and Nunavut, Interstellar Rodeo welcomed and celebrated artists from all over the country and all over the world. This approach to music curation in Interstellar Rodeo’s culture and mandate embodied the core values of Six Shooter’s spirit and ethos. An emphasis on quality of experience drove Interstellar’s philosophy from top to bottom. On the ground, Interstellar Rodeo’s Here To Help team and Code of Care put its mission to create a welcoming and positive environment into action. As its roots grew deeper, Interstellar Rodeo shone the spotlight on community creators and activists through programming and outreach.

Along the way, the festival team learned many lessons, made many friends, and ultimately created a community of people committed to building the festival together. Interstellar Rodeo proudly and fiercely embraced the challenges, roadblocks and surprises that came along the way, a reflection of the grit, determination and enthusiasm of its producers. From Corb Lund Day, by city decree, to opening Interstellar Rodeo 2019 with Jesse Jamz and the Flams, a hometown artist who was rained out the year before, Interstellar Rodeo did everything it could to make sure everyone – from headliners to brand new performers, from those who never missed a year to those who came to see just one artist – felt valued.

No Interstellar Rodeo was like the other, but all Interstellar Rodeos were these things.

Thank you to our volunteers, our sponsors, supporters and partners, our families, the artists, their agents and managers, and most of all, the fans in Edmonton and Winnipeg for making this a truly memorable experience each and every time.